Dressed To Kill

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"Oh Doctor, I'm so unhappy. I'm a woman trapped inside a man's body-- and you re not helping me to get out!"

Dressed to Kill is a 1980 erotic crime thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma and starring Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson and Nancy Allen. It centers on the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by the witness to the murder, a young prostitute, and the housewife’s teenaged son.

The film was the target of some backlash from the gay and transgender communities, who felt that its portrayal of transgender people was misguided and transphobic. In addition, De Palma was accused of being misogynistic by feminist groups.

[edit] This film provides examples of

• Angst: Understandably, Peter on losing his mother.
• Book Ends: The movie start and finished with a tense Hitchcockian shower scene. Both scenes turn out to be dream sequences.
• Catapult Nightmare: The last scene when Liz wakes from her nightmare, followed by a Wake Up Fighting with Peter.
• Black Bra And Panties: Liz.
• Creepy Crossdresser: Bobbi.
• Daydream Surprise: The opening and closing shower scenes are revealed to be dream sequences.
• Dead Star Walking: Angie Dickinson is top-billed in the credits alongside Michael Caine, but gets brutally murdered less than halfway into the movie. It's appropriate, since Dressed To Kill is an overt homage to Hitchcock.
• Double Meaning Title: The title is a metaphorical reference to all the Fanservice, but more literal as Bobbi dresses in drag to kill her victims.
• Elevator Action Sequence: Where the murder happens.
• Erotic Dream: Angie is having one in the opening scene.
• Fanservice: Gratuitous nudity in the shower scenes.
  • Fan Disservice: Bobbi.
• High Class Call Girl: Liz, but she is also a...
• Hooker With A Heart Of Gold.
• Hot Mom: Angie.
• IKEA Erotica: When it's not pack with Fanservice, the characters talk about cringy sexual events like they were reading a book on it.
  • You could add Liz's performance in front of the doctor. She looks like a frigid, scared little girl that doesn't know what to wear to fit her (and she's supposed to be a High Class Call Girl) rather than a Femme Fatale.
• The Immodest Orgasm: Angie is having one in bed with her husband. Later she admits it was all faked.
• Jerkass: Detective Marino.
• The Killer In Me.
• Mirror Scare: Mirror shot with the killer in Liz' nightmare scene.
• Modesty Towel: In the last shower scene.
• Nerd: Peter.
• Nerds Love Tough Schoolwork: Peter embracing his science project.
• Nipple And Dimed: Though not played completely straight, in her scene of her talking with the good doctor, one of her breasts' aureola is obviously visible.
• Not Distracted By The Sexy: Dr. Elliott tries to do this, hard. He eventually succumbs, letting out his alternate personality to try to kill her before he does something with her.
• Police Are Useless: The subway marshal not seeing things and leaving the car before trouble starts.
  • Then trying to Frameup Liz, without any attempt to believe her or help her. Then putting her in harm's way.
• Psycho Psychologist: Dr. Elliott should really not be practicing.
• Psycho Strings: Kicks in right after Liz picks up the murder weapon from the elevator floor.
• Slashed Throat: At the end of the movie on Liz. Good thing it was just a nightmare.
• So Bad It's Awful: Come on, if it wasn't a De Palma and Caine movie, it wouldn't even have a page here.
• Split Personality: Dr. Elliott and his alter-ego Bobbi.
• Stocking Filler: Nancy Allen in black stockings and garters. HOT;!
• Twist Ending: Dr. Elliott, or rather Bobbi being the razor blade killer.
• You Killed My Mother: Why Peter is working with Liz.

[edit] Notes

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